WHEN BEETHOVEN PASSED AWAY

When Beethoven Passed Away,

he Was Buried In A Churchyard

A couple days later,

the town drunk was walking

through the cemetery

and heard some strange noise

coming from the area where

Beethoven was buried.

Terrified, the drunk ran and

got the priest to come and listen to it.

The priest bent close to the grave

and heard some faint,

unrecognizable music coming from the grave.

Frightened, the priest ran

and got the town magistrate.

When the magistrate arrived,

he bent his ear to the grave,

listened for a moment, and said,

"Ah, yes, that's Beethoven's Ninth Symphony,

being played backwards."

He listened a while longer, and said,

"There's the Eighth Symphony

and it's backwards too.

Most puzzling."

So the magistrate kept listening;

"There's the Seventh... the Sixth... the Fifth..."

Suddenly, the realization of what was

happening dawned on the magistrate;

he stood up and announced the crowd

that had gathered in the cemetery,

"My fellow citizens,

there's nothing to worry about.

It's just Beethoven decomposing."